Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the recommendations submitted by the Commission to the President under section 357 of this title, and the recommendations transmitted by the President to the Congress under section 358 of this title, shall be in conformance with the following:

(1) Any recommended pay adjustment shall specify the date as of which it is proposed that such adjustment take effect.

(2) The proposed effective date of a pay adjustment may occur no earlier than January 1 of the second fiscal year, and no later than December 31 next following the close of the fifth fiscal year, beginning after the fiscal year in which the Commission conducts its review under section 356 of this title.

(3)

(A)

(i) The rates of pay recommended for the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Vice President of the United States, and the Chief Justice of the United States, respectively, shall be equal.

(ii) The rates of pay recommended for the majority and minority leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the President pro tempore of the Senate, and each office or position under section 5312 of title 5 (relating to level I of the Executive Schedule), respectively, shall be equal.

(iii) The rates of pay recommended for a Senator, a Member of the House of Representatives, the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico, a Delegate to the House of Representatives, a judge of a district court of the United States, a judge of the United States Court of International Trade, and each office or position under section 5313 of title 5 (relating to level II of the Executive Schedule), respectively, shall be equal.

(B) Nothing in this section shall be considered to require that the rate recommended for any office or position by the President under section 358 of this title be the same as the rate recommended for such office or position by the Commission under section 357 of this title.